½ inch
1 inch
Doe 1
This is a revised copy
of the MLA example
paper. There is also a
MLA formatting guide
that goes along with
this.
2/2012
John Doe
Mrs. Weeks
1 inch
English I, 3rd Hour
24 January 2011
Your Title is Centered Here (Don’t Underline or Bold)
You begin your paper by tabbing over once (you should not use the space bar). This
shows that you are starting a new paragraph. You continue to type until your paragraph is
complete. Once your paragraph is complete you will hit ENTER once and tab over again once.
This is an example of how it should look.
Do you see how I only hit the ENTER button once. If I hit it twice I would have too
many spaces between the paragraphs. The TAB at the beginning of the paragraph shows the
readers that you are starting a new paragraph.
You will continue this until you have finished your paper. Remember to use in-text
citations where necessary. If you are using information that was not yours originally, you have
to give credit to the source of the information. If you are using a direct quote, make sure you put
it in quotation marks. If the quote is four or more lines long you will need to indent the entire
quote like the following example. This is a direct quote from Rick Riordan’s The Last
Olympian:
I knew that even before we reached the front door. The sidewalk was
lined with those little stuffed beanbag animals you see in gift shops. There
were miniature lions, pigs, dragons, hydras, even a teeny Minotaur in a
little Minotaur diaper. Judging from their sad shape, the beanbag
creatures had been sitting out here a long time—since the snow melted last
Doe 2
spring at least. One of the hydras had a tree sapling sprouting between its
necks (92).
Do you see how that looks? Now if I am doing a short quote, I need to put it in quotes.
Here is an example. According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, an electroscope is
“a device for detecting very small charges of electricity or radiation” (211). Since I wrote
this word by word it needs quotation marks. You will also notice that I italicized the
titles of the books. In both of these examples, I told you directly where the information
was coming from; therefore, you only have to reference the page # in the in-text citation.
If I didn’t tell you directly where the information was coming from, I would have had to
put the author (or title if the author or editor is not given). If you are referencing p. 35
from a book written by Shakespeare for example, it would look like this (Shakespeare
35). If it is a website and doesn’t have page numbers, you would put (Author’s last name
or shorten version of the title in quotation marks if no author exists). Make sure you
reference your paraphrasing as well. In-text citations are not just for direct quotes. They
should be used anytime you use someone else’s ideas or thoughts.
I have included a “Works Cited” page at the end of this paper so you will have an
idea what your final paper should look like. Make sure the sources listed on your “Works
Cited” page in alphabetical order. Use the links that I have listed on the “Works Cited”
page to help you write your citations. The Long Island University site gives an easy to
use color-coded guide for writing citations (Delaney). The OWL at Purdue site gives a
lot of detail and is a great resource for you to use on all your papers (Russell, Brizee, and
Allen). It isn’t difficult; you just have to put the information in the correct order. The
most important thing to remember is that you need to collect all the needed information
Doe 3
while doing your research. Don’t think you will go back and get it. It is sometimes
difficult to relocate a website or book after the fact. Also, some sites like EBSCO will
give you your citation. Just remember if you copy and paste it into your paper, you will
need to change the font style and size to match your paper. Also, you will need to adjust
your margins. Most of the time, the pasted citation will have different margins than your
original paper. Some citation building sites can be good to use to help you create your
citation; however, you have to be careful. I have found some that give the wrong
information. It is best if you learn the basics of how to create a citation so you can
determine if a citation is written correctly.
This is meant only to be a guide on the basic MLA guidelines. If your teacher
gives you different guidelines, please follow his/her directions. I hope this helps you
with your papers. Feel free to come into the library for help on formatting your paper.
The library is available Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays until 4:45. It is also available
on Wednesdays until 3:45 (unless there is a faculty meeting) and Fridays until 3:15.
Doe 4
Works Cited
Agnes, Michael Ed. Webster’s New World Dictionary, Fourth Edition. New York: Pocket
Books, 2003. Print.
Delaney, Robert. “MLA Citation Style: MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th
Edition.” B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library. Long Island University, 28 October
2010. Web. 24 Jan. 2011. http://www2.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citmla.htm.
Riordan, Rick. The Last Olympian. New York: Hyperion Books, 2009. Print.
Russell, Tony, Allen Brizee and Elizabeth Angel. “MLA Formatting and Style Guide.” OWL
Purdue Online Writing Lab. Purdue University Writing Lab. 22 December 2010. Web. 24
January 2011. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
Note:
You will notice that when there is
more that one author, the first
author is listed Last Name, First
Name and the following authors
are listed First Name Last Name.
If there are four or more authors,
the first author is listed Last
Name, First Name followed by a
comma and the phrase et al (which
is Latin for “and others”). For
example…
Williams, John, et. al.
It is no longer required
to give the URL (website
address) when citing a source in
MLA style formatting unless a
professor or teacher requires it.
However; I have talked with
most of your teachers, and they
seem to want the URL. When in
doubt, put down the URL!